Door catch



Oct. 30, 1962 R. A. JORGENSEN 3,061,346

DOOR CATCH Filed March 30, 1959 Roberf" AF. Jorgen sen INVENTOR.

fIHy:

United States Patent 3,061,346 DOOR CATCH Robert A. Jorgensen, P.0. Box 245, Edmonds, Wash. Filed Mar. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 802,997 3 Claims. (Cl. 29217) This invention relates to door catches for use together with a door strike in holding a door, particularly a cabinet door, in open or closed position.

An important and commonly encountered defect of conventional door catches is their inability to self-align without imposing excessive strain on the catch parts due to inaccurate strike installation, or to changes in the relative position of the strike and catch occasioned, for example, by settling or shifting of the structural members to which they are attached. The strains set up in this manner frequently result in weakening of the grip of the catch, and in breakage of springs which may be present as component parts therein.

Still further, many commercially available catches are made of plastic which is subject to cold flow. This causes the catches to become misaligned, or to lose their gripping ability. Because of these factors, the conventional catches necessarily are made of numerous parts and as a result are complicated and expensive.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, easily installed door catch which is positive in its action and which overcomes the foregoing difliculties even though it may be manufactured from only two parts and accordingly is remarkably simple in its construction.

The manner in which the above and other objects of this invention are accomplished will be apparent from the accompanying specification and claims considered together with the drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are plan and side elevational views respectively of the presently described door catch in a first embodiment; and

FIG. 3 and 4 are plan and side elevational views respectively of the presently described door catch in a second embodiment.

In its broad aspect, the door catch of my invention comprises a base provided With means for attachment to a cabinet door frame or to other structural member. A pair of flexible arms extend outwardly from the base in the direction of the strike and terminate in opposed jaws spaced to grip the strike releasably. Spring means then are provided for applying resilient pressure primarily to the jaw portions of the arms, thereby permitting lineal adjustment of the catch as required to accommodate the door strike when aligned, and also in various positions of mis-alignment.

The door catch illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is designed for use with a strike member such as round headed screw 10. This is mounted on one of the two relatively movable members, preferably on door 12, which the catch is designed to anchor in position. The catch itself is mounted on the other such member, for example, on a cabinet shelf or framing member 14.

The catch comprises a base 16 having an external recess or groove 18 in its terminal portion and a centrally located, inwardly extending tongue 20. Where the structural member on which the catch is mounted is made of wood, the base may be affixed thereto by means of screws 24, 26. However, where the structural member is made of metal, other suitable attaching means may be employed such as a snap molded into the body and adapted to engage a hole punched through the metal.

A pair of flexible arms 30, 32 extend outwardly from the base in the direction of strike 10, preferably being substantially parallel to the planar surface of structural member 14 on which they are mounted and spaced slightly therefrom. The arms terminate in jaw members 34, 36 which may be formed with exterior pockets 38, 40 respectively as well as with strike-guiding, converging, outer surfaces 42, 44.

The catch assembly thus described, including base 16, tongue 20, arms 30, 32 and jaws 42, 44 preferably is formed integrally from a substantially abrasion-resistant plastic such as nylon, polyethylene, polyacrylate, or polyester.

Spring means are provided for urging jaws 42, 44 toward each other after their lateral displacement by entry of strike 10 between them. It is a particular feature of the present invention that the spring pressure is applied principally at or near the jaws without binding arms 30, 32. As a consequence, the catch becomes self-aligning to compensate for faulty installation or shifting of the relative positions of the catch and strike, without, however, sacrificing or substantially diminishing the gripping power of the jaws. This is illustrated schematically by the dotted outline positions of strike 10 shown in FIG. 1.

To this end a leaf spring 45 of generally U-shaped configuration and preferably of either stainless or carbon steel, is seated in recess 18, its terminal portions entering recesses 38, 40 of the arms. In effect, therefore, it floats on the catch assembly and exerts spring pressure opposing separation of jaws 34, 36 without binding the arms which mount the jaws. Hence where the strike and catch are misaligned, the jaws of the catch will swing to the strike. The spring then follows, but there is no strain on the spring other than the normal pressure which it exerts on the jaws.

A form of the invention incorporating still another type of spring and spring mounting is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. In this form of the invention a round or arrow- [head strike 50 is mounted on a door 52 and positioned to engage a catch mounted on an adjacent structural member 54. The catch includes a base 56 which may be secured to the support member by screws 58, 60. A tongue 62 and flexible arms 64, 66 project outwardly from the base. The arms are provided at their terminal extremities with jaws 68, 70 formed with guiding surfaces 72, 74 respectively. These members preferably are formed from an integral piece of plastic.

Spring pressure is brought to bear against jaws 68, 70

by means of a leaf spring 76 which may be pressed into the plastic from the underside. It is to be noted particularly that this spring, like spring 45 of FIGS. 1 and 2, floats in its suspension so that pressure is exerted principally on the jaws without impairing the flexibility of arms 64, 66.

Accordingly it will be apparent that by the present invention I have provided a door catch which has manifold advantages. First, it includes but few parts and is easily and inexpensively manufactured. Second, it compensates for either vertical or horizontal alignment of the strike. Third, it can be installed easily and rapidly in a variety of installation situations. Fourth, it is extremely durable and has a long service life. Also, it is of attractive design and appearance.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A door catch adapted for use with a door strike and comprising a one-piece body member formed of plastic material and including a base adapted for attachment in a stationary position to a structural member, a pair of elongated flexible arms projecting forwardly from the base in laterally spaced relation, and opposed jaws on the outer ends of the arms and spaced apart for frictionally clamping a strike therebetween, the jaws being movable laterally relative to the stationary base by lateral flexing of the arms, and a leaf spring having forwardly projecting opposite terminal ends engaging and resiliently interconnecting the jaws, the arms and spring being disposed in a substantially common plane, the intermediate portion of the spring extending rearwardly from the jaws to provide unobstructed passage of a door strike through the space between the jaws, the spring being supported on the body member for movement relative to the stationary base, whereby when one of the jaws is displaced laterally relative to the stationary base by a misaligned strike the interconnecting spring causes the other jaw to follow the displaced jaw, thereby substantially maintaining the spaced apart clamping relationship of the laterally displaced jaws.

2. The door catch of claim 1 wherein the intermediate portion of the spring extends around the rear side of the base and is retained freely in a recess in the rear side of the base for lateral movement therein, the spaced end portions of the spring extending forwardly alongside the elongated arms with its terminal ends directed inwardly and seated in recesses in the opposed jaws.

3. The door catch of claim 1 wherein the spring is disposed between the laterally spaced arms, the intermediate portion of the spring being positioned adjacent the for ward end of the base and the spaced end portions of the spring extending forwardly with their terminal ends in engagement with the opposed jaws.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 100,616 Gravatt Mar. 8, 1870 622,620 Greenawalt Apr. 4, 1899 716,009 Dunbar Dec. 16, 1902 859,459 McCauley July 9, 1907 2,577,507 Bergdorf Dec. 4, 1951 2,749,163 Loeb June 5, 1956 2,946,612 Ahlgren July 26, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 7,851 Great Britain of 1894 

